Fast Five (film)
Encyclopedia
Fast Five is a 2011 action film
written by Chris Morgan
and directed by Justin Lin
. It is the fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious
film series. It was released first in Australia on April 20, 2011, and then in the United States on April 29, 2011. Fast Five follows Dominic Toretto
(Vin Diesel
), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker
) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster
) as they plan a heist to steal $100 million from corrupt businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida
) while being pursued for arrest by U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)
agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).
When developing Fast Five, Universal Studios
deliberately departed from the street racing
theme prevalent in previous films in the series, to transform the franchise into a heist action series involving cars. By doing so, they hoped to attract wider audiences that might otherwise be put off by a heavy emphasis on cars and car culture. Fast Five is considered the transitional film in the series, featuring only one car race and giving more attention to action set pieces such as gun fights, brawls and the heist of $100 million. The production mounted a comprehensive marketing campaign, marketing the film through social media, virtual games, cinema chains, automobile manufacturers and at NASCAR
races.
Fast Five achieved financial success, breaking box office records for the highest-grossing April opening weekend and the second highest spring opening weekend. It surpassed Fast & Furious (2009) to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise and overtook Rio
to become the highest-grossing film of 2011, holding this title for fifteen days before being replaced by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
. Fast Five has grossed over $625 million worldwide, making it number 55 on the all-time worldwide list of highest-grossing films, in unadjusted dollars.
The film was praised by critics, who liked the combination of comedy and "action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics"; some labeled the film the best of the series. Johnson was singled out for his performance, critics calling him "the best thing, by far, in Fast Five" and remarking that scenes shared by Johnson and Diesel were often the "best moments". Despite the positive response, many were critical of the film's running time, considering it too long, and others criticized the treatment of women, stating "[Females] cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names." South American reviewers were critical of the film's portrayal of Rio de Janeiro as a haven for drug trafficking and corruption, labeling it a "stereotype".
(Vin Diesel
) is being transported to Lompoc prison
by bus, his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster
) and friend Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker
) lead an assault on the bus, causing it to crash and freeing Dom. While the authorities search for them, the trio escape to Rio de Janeiro. Awaiting Dom's arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince (Matt Schulze
) and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. Brian and Mia discover that agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) are also on the train and that the cars are seized property. When Dom arrives with the rest of the participants, he realizes that one of them, Zizi (Michael Irby
), is only interested in stealing one car, a Ford GT40
. Dom has Mia steal the car herself while he and Brian fight Zizi and his henchmen, during which Zizi kills the DEA agents assigned to the vehicles. Dom and Brian are captured and brought to crime lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida
), the owner of the cars and Zizi's boss. Reyes orders the pair be interrogated to discover the location of the car, but they manage to escape and retreat to their safehouse.
While Brian, Dom, and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is caught trying to remove a computer chip from it. He admits he was planning to sell the chip to Reyes on his own, and Dom forces him to leave. Brian investigates the chip and discovers it contains details of Reyes' criminal empire, including the locations of US$100 million in cash.
Following the murder of the DEA agents aboard the train, blamed on Dom and his team, DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team arrive in Rio to arrest Dom and Brian. With the help of local officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky
), they travel to Dom's safehouse, but find it under assault by Reyes' men. Brian, Dom and Mia escape, and Dom suggests they split up and leave Rio, but Mia announces she is pregnant with Brian's child. Dom agrees to stick together and suggests they steal Reyes' money to start a new life. The trio organizes a team to perform the heist, recruiting Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang
), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris
), Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot
), Tego Leo (Tego Calderón
) and Rico Santos (Don Omar
). Vince later joins the team after saving Mia from being captured by Reyes' men, earning Dom's trust once more.
Hobbs and his team eventually find and arrest Dom, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them to the airport for extradition
to the United States, the convoy is attacked by Reyes' men, who kill Hobbs' team. Hobbs and Elena are saved by Dom, Brian, Mia and Vince as they fight back against Reyes' men and escape, but Vince is shot in the process and dies. Wanting to avenge his murdered team, Hobbs and Elena agree to help with the heist. The gang breaks into the police station where Reyes' money is kept and tear the vault from the building using their cars, dragging it through the city with police in pursuit. Believing they cannot outrun the police, Dom makes Brian continue without him while he attacks the police and the pursuing Reyes, using the vault attached to his car to smash their vehicles. Brian returns to kill Zizi, while Reyes is badly injured by Dom's assault. Hobbs arrives on the scene and kills Reyes. Hobbs refuses to let Dom and Brian go free but, unwilling to arrest them, agrees to give them a 24-hour head start to escape. The gang splits Reyes' money, leaving Vince's share to his family, before the members go their separate ways.
On a tropical beach, Brian and a visibly pregnant Mia relax. They are met by Dom and Elena. Brian challenges Dom to a final, no-stakes race to prove who is the better driver.
In a post-credits scene
, Hobbs is given a file by Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes
) concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin
. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Dom's former girlfriend Letty Ortiz, who had been presumed dead.
The central cast is rounded out by Puerto Rican singers Tego Calderón
and Don Omar
as Leo and Santos respectively, members of the heist team. Michael Irby
plays Reyes' right-hand man Zizi. Alimi Ballard
, Fernando Chien, Yorgo Constantine and Geoff Meedy portray Hobbs' team members Fusco, Wilkes, Chato and Macroy. Michelle Rodriguez
appears in photographs as Letty Ortiz, Dominic's former girlfriend, who is presumed dead following the events of Fast & Furious. Eva Mendes
appears in an uncredited cameo as agent Monica Fuentes, reprising her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious.
and producer Neal H. Moritz
would all return to their roles for the new installment. Moritz confirmed that, following the success of Fast & Furious (2009), which had reunited Diesel, Brewster, Walker and Rodriguez from the original film, the production wanted to bring them back again for the next one. Diesel felt that the story between the characters portrayed by himself and Walker should continue, envisioning it as three chapters, of which Fast Five would be the last. Diesel also wanted to bring back a variety of characters that had been in previous films without interacting, put them together and "have a lot of fun".
The production had originally intended to film on location in Rio de Janeiro. However, the Puerto Rican government offered tax incentives, influencing the decision to film there, using Puerto Rico to represent Rio de Janeiro.
Three film units worked simultaneously. The main cast were required to travel to Rio at the behest of Lin, who felt it important to understand the area and its culture to give the film a good sense of place. Diesel agreed that it was important to shoot key scenes in Brazil, commenting "we were able to shoot where other productions might not be able to shoot because our franchise has such good street cred."
The Rio film unit captured aerial shots of the city including Sugarloaf Mountain, Fort Copacabana
, Ipanema Beach, the Dona Marta lookout point
and the Christ the Redeemer
statue. Establishing shot
s of the heist team members were taken as each arrived in Rio. Gibson was filmed arriving in character at Galeão International Airport but, when it became publicly known that a scene was being shot at the airport, the cast and crew were mobbed. A similar situation occurred while Ludacris was shooting a scene in which his character buys a car to drive around the city. A scene where the completed heist team walk down a beach was filmed in Copacabana.
The rooftop chase across favela
s was filmed in Puerto Rico, where the production could have more control over the area. The main and second filming units began filming in and around the capital, San Juan
. The island's mixture of tropical greenery and wide streets allowed the production to re-create the densely populated favelas of Rio while completing the larger action and external scenes without incident. Production designer Peter Wenham had the task of transforming Puerto Rico and Atlanta into the previously scouted Rio locations in four weeks, as the production deemed Rio unsuitable for filming many of the larger scenes. Wenham had to reinforce buildings to support the heavy camera equipment, and to alter the colors of more than 30 buildings in the city to make them suitable for filming. His team needed to alter the buildings and strew debris to make the area look disheveled and appear as a Rio shantytown. Wenham remarked that, though the development was difficult, in part due to the heat, it was "a walk in the park" compared with filming in the Rio favelas themselves. Wenham aimed to maintain a monochromatic color scheme for the film, with muted blacks and grays, including his choice of colors for the cars used. He only chose to add a multitude of colors in the favela set.
A foot pursuit in which Diesel, Brewster and Walker are chased across favela rooftops by Johnson and his team was filmed over the course of a week in the small hillside town of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
. The scene was considered difficult to shoot, as pathways were slippery from moist tropical heat and the scene involved actors and stunt doubles running while avoiding dogs, chickens and other stray animals loose in the area. To capture the scene, a 420-foot cable-camera rig was used to allow for a fast moving, birds-eye view of the action, and cameras on cranes were set up on rooftops and in alleyways. The train heist scene was filmed in Rice, California
over three weeks.
Filming moved to Atlanta, Georgia for the final phase. Wenham and his team transformed a defunct train yard into an abandoned auto plant used by the protagonists as their headquarters. Redesigning the train yard took place over several months. It was required to allow enough space for stunt drivers to drive into the building, and it had to include an integrated lighting system. The design team removed walls, hauled out old railway cars, suspended rusted car parts and auto-plant car rails, and constructed smaller buildings within the main building to transform the site. With twenty-five pages of script to shoot in a limited time, cinematographer Stephen Windon and his team spent three weeks setting up a series of high-powered, motorized lights in the rafters of the building, that could be controlled remotely to allow lighting to be altered quickly while fully illuminating the set. An exterior scene involving Diesel and Walker attending a car party, involving several high-performance cars, was filmed near the Georgia Dome
.
A brawl scene between Johnson's and Diesel's characters was considered difficult to choreograph. The characters were written to be equally formidable, so the fight was punctuated with moments of character development, as Moritz felt this made the fight more exciting. The scene required several weeks of rehearsal and more than a week of filming by the actors and their stunt doubles, who incurred several minor injuries.
The Facebook game Car Town
by Cie Games and the theater chain Regal Entertainment Group
(REG) collaborated with Universal in a cross-media marketing promotion. Car Town allowed players to view the trailer for the film in an , in-game drive-in theater and race around a virtual Rio de Janeiro. The game also featured missions and locations based on the plot of the film, while allowing players to race against Fast Five characters and take part in a bank heist. REG offered players of Car Town the ability to purchase tickets in-game via Fandango
for films at REG theaters. By buying these tickets in-game, players were given promotional codes which in turn allowed them to unlock a virtual 1970s Dodge Charger
, used by Diesel's character in the original film. REG promoted the partnership between the film and the game in their theaters across 37 states, online and through social media, while Universal promoted it via their own Facebook, Twitter and YouTube sites. In October 2011, it was claimed that over 200 million races had taken place within the virtual Rio de Janeiro environment in the six months since the campaign's April launch.
Automobile manufacturer Dodge
collaborated with Universal in marketing the film, supplying several Dodge Chargers to use in it. The partnership with Dodge included the "Fast Five" Dodge Charger driven by Robby Gordon
in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series throughout April 2011 – the opening month of Fast Five. Dodge also sponsored the world premiere of the film in Rio de Janeiro.
Lagoon theater in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was hosted by actress Susie Castillo
and sponsored by automobile manufacturer Dodge.
worldwide. This amount makes Fast Five the number 103 highest-grossing film of all time in the domestic market and the number 55 highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, in unadjusted dollars.
On May 14, 2011, after twenty-five days in theaters, Fast Five overtook Fast & Furious to become the highest-grossing film in the Fast and the Furious franchise, with a gross of $369,744,415, and the highest grossing installment of the franchise outside the US and Canada, with $214,619,415 – both figures taking account of inflation. On May 15, 2011, with a gross of $168,780,000, Fast Five passed Fast & Furious ($155M) in the US and Canada to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise domestically – again taking inflation into account – earning in sixteen days what it had taken Fast & Furious ninety-one days to achieve. On the same day, with a worldwide gross of $440,480,000, Fast Five surpassed Rio
($428.6M) to become the highest grossing film of 2011. It held this record for 15 days before being supplanted on May 30, 2011, its (then) $530.4M gross surpassed by the $623.7M of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
. On May 18, 2011, with a total gross of $465,717,712, it also entered the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time worldwide – in unadjusted dollars – at number 97. In October 2011, with a gross of $626.1M, it reached a peak of number 55 on the same list before leaving theaters.
Markets outside the United States and Canada
Fast Five was initially released in Australia on Wednesday April 20, 2011 – nine days before the first release in North America – followed by further releases in the UK, South Korea and New Zealand. The earlier start in these countries was timed to coincide with their Easter holidays and avoided competition from forthcoming summer films, although this placed it in direct competition with the superhero film
Thor
. On the opening day, Fast Five took $2.1M in the UK, $570,000 from South Korea and $260,000 from New Zealand. By the end of the opening weekend, the film had accrued a total of $24M from foreign countries, including $10.3M from Australia (Universal's biggest opening in that country), $8.8M from the UK, $3.4M from South Korea and $870,000 from New Zealand. On its second weekend in foreign countries, Fast Five earned an estimated $45.3M across 3,139 theaters in 14 countries, ranking first at the box office in each of its ten new overseas markets and breaking records for Universal's highest-grossing openings in Russia ($11.5M), Spain and Turkey. Its international gross takings, however, put it in second place behind Thor, which had opened in more countries than Fast Five.
In the third week after release Fast Five opened at number 1 in a further 44 countries, bringing the total to 58 – 6,979 theaters altogether. With both films open in a similar number of countries (58 for Fast Five to 57 for Thor) – Fast Five regained the number one position, with a total gross of $184.5M against Thors $176.1M, which fell to second place. The week saw the film break opening-weekend records for Universal in 12 countries: Argentina, Brazil ($5M), Chile, France ($8.8M), India, Italy ($7.4M), Malaysia, Mexico ($8.6M), the Netherlands, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. It broke the record for the biggest ever opening gross in the United Arab Emirates ($2.6M), holding this record for two weeks before being replaced by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($2.7M). On May 31, 2011, Fast Five, with a cumulative gross of $350M, was replaced as the highest-grossing film of 2011 internationally by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($472.3M).
United States and Canada
In the US and Canada Fast Five opened on April 29, 2011, in 3,644 theaters, making it the 96th most widespread release of all time. It took $3.8M in receipts during launch midnight showings, marking the best ever opening for a Universal
title and for the Fast and the Furious series. By the end of the opening day it had accrued a total of $34.4M including midnight takings, giving it the highest-grossing April opening of any year, replacing Fast & Furious ($30.1M), and the second highest Friday opening outside of the summer and holiday period, behind Alice in Wonderland ($40.8M). In total, Fast Five earned $86.2M during its opening weekend, an average of $23,655 per theater, with IMAX
showings contributing over $8 million. This amount made it the highest-grossing opening of the series and the highest-grossing opening weekend for Universal, replacing The Lost World: Jurassic Park
($72.1M), the highest-grossing April opening weekend of all time, replacing Fast & Furious ($71M), and the second-highest spring opening, again after Alice in Wonderland ($116.1M). The film was also the highest-grossing opening for Diesel, Walker, Brewster, Johnson, Moritz and Lin.
The film opened in a further eighteen cinemas (making a total of 3,662) during the second week of release (6–8 May), taking more than $32M, or $8,860 per theater. This was a 62.4% drop from the previous week's takings, a result partially blamed on a reduction in IMAX and large-format screens showing the film (reduced from 244 to 20), which only contributed $510,000 to the second weekend's gross. This moved the film into second place in theaters behind the newly released Thor with $66M. Despite the competition from Thor, Fast Five earned a further $20M for the week, bringing the gross for the US and Canada to over $135M. On May 7, 2011, Fast Five ($139.8M) surpassed Rio ($116.5M) to become the highest-grossing film of 2011 in the United States, holding the record for thirty-six days until June 11, 2011, when it was surpassed by The Hangover Part II ($203.8M). On June 4, 2011, thirty-seven days after release in the US, the film became the first film of 2011 to accrue more than $200M.
On June 15, 2011, Box Office Mojo compared the box office performances of ten sequel films released in 2011 with those of the original films of their franchises. Fast Five was at the head of the list, being the only sequel to have outperformed its franchise original; it was the highest-grossing film of the Fast and the Furious franchise (and the one with the highest estimated attendance since the 2001 series original). Fast Five was followed by The Hangover Part II and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on this basis.
Fast Five closed on August 11, 2011, after 105 days (15 weeks), having accrued $209,837,675 across 3,793 theaters, making it the second highest-grossing heist/caper film, behind Inception
($292.5M), and the second highest-grossing car-racing film, behind Cars
($244.1M) – not adjusting for inflation.
and garnering 78% approval from 176 critics on Rotten Tomatoes
, whose assessment reads: "Sleek, loud, and over the top, Fast Five proudly embraces its brainless action thrills."
Roger Ebert
gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising it as "a skillfully assembled 130 minutes at the movies, with actors capable of doing absurd things with straight faces, and action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics", while Time Magazine considered it "maybe the first great film of the post-human era". The New York Times said it deftly combined action and humor, stating "The only time you won’t be watching the screen is when your eyes have squeezed shut because you’re laughing so hard." The Telegraph
appreciated the presence of Johnson and Diesel together, calling it a "cosmic event", and added that director Lin had revitalized the series, saying "the start and finish here, defying every imaginable law of physics, are series highs." Empire
also heaped praise on Johnson, saying "How to re-ignite an ageing franchise? Drop [Johnson] on it. The best thing, by far, in Fast Five ... Dwayne Johnson hulks through the movie leaving testosterone trails in his wake." However, Empire took the view that the film itself was "not, by any normal criteria, a good film", arguing that it was too long, although conceding that the action scenes, in particular the final car chase, made the film "the most entertaining in the series." Anna Smith of Time Out London also commented that the film was too long and criticized the simplistic characters and dialog, but she called the film "slick" and stated that these criticisms could be overlooked because "it doesn’t take itself too seriously." Variety
focused on the roles of Johnson and Diesel, lamenting the current lack of 1980s-style "brawny" leading men and of the "manly men" typical of the 1950s and 1960s, and calling their pairing "a welcome injection of tough-guy vigor". Variety commented that, based on Fast Five, a "sixth entry could be something worth waiting for". The New Yorker
called the action scenes "spectacular", praising director Lin by saying his "direction and the sharp editing never confuse or lose momentum", but also found the film too long and criticized the dialog, labeling it "subpar Ocean's Eleven
-style banter". On the characters, The New Yorker considered Walker and Diesel "serviceable", but singled out Johnson for praise for bringing a "hip, comic knowingness to his role ... his enjoyment is infectious and keeps the movie speeding along."
Total Film
welcomed the return of Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson to "[inject] the film with much-needed laughs" and felt that Johnson fit into the established cast with ease, though it believed the film itself was "no mould-breaker." Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
, who disliked the previous movies, gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, praising the transformation of the series into a heist film ("Damn it, it works"), commenting favorably on scenes between Johnson and Diesel, and judging that "Fast Five will push all your action buttons, and some you haven't thought of." The Los Angeles Times
felt that scenes shared by Diesel and Johnson were the "best moments" and appreciated the humor, but considered the pacing a "strange mix", switching between exposition, comedy scenes and then sudden action. The reviewer echoed other critics' sentiments concerning the running time of the film, but concluded that "the sheer audacity of "Fast Five" is kind of breathtaking in a metal-twisting, death-defying, mission-implausible, B-movie-on-steroids kind of way", labeling it the "best" of the series.
Both Empire and Variety noted that the final chase scene of Fast Five contained allusions to Bad Boys II
(2003): Variety stated that the scene "seems inspired in part by a similarly spectacular scene in Bad Boys II"; Empire said that it "nearly out-Bad-Boys-2s Bad Boys 2".
Not all reviews were positive, however. Film4
criticized both the film's long running time and its treatment of female characters, remarking "[Females] cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names". But Film4 praised Johnson's role as DSS agent Luke Hobbs, saying he "provides a more credible anti-antagonist to our anti-heroes than the straight up villains can manage". The Boston Herald
gave a more mixed reaction: it derided the lack of realism as removing any sense of threat to the protagonists, but conceded that "these films may be robustly anti-intellectual and deplorably commercialized, but they are the envy of the rest of the world." Despite giving the film a positive review and praising the action, The Hollywood Reporter
was critical of its stars, saying "it’s clear the budget wasn’t used on acting lessons for the cast." The New York Post
s Kyle Smith gave the film a negative review, criticizing the shortage of car-related action before the finale and calling it less a "vroomer" and more a "knucklehead Ocean's Eleven". Smith went on to call the film's villain Reyes (Almeida) "unforgivably dull" and considered the long running time a result of taking "that long to read every item in the cliché dictionary." Time Out New York stated that "The Fast and the Furious movies haven’t exactly gotten better as they’ve gone along" but gave the director a backhanded compliment, saying "Justin Lin, taking his third turn behind the franchise’s wheel, is at least a competent hack." Ebert was more complimentary, saying "Justin Lin is emerging as a first-rate director in this second-rate genre" and Rolling Stone managed "Justin Lin, who misdirected the last two sequels, finds his pace this time, staging dynamite action."
accused the producers of using "aerial shots and quick editing" to "deceive the viewer" into believing that the criminal acts take place in Rio. Globo also reacted negatively to the use of "foreigners" to represent Brazilians, "speaking Portuguese with laughable accents". Veja
agreed with Globo, saying "The city of Rio and the Rio Film Commission supported the production. But the image that will spread across the world is exactly what the city doesn't want."
, winning one for Best Summer Blockbuster 2011 TV Spot. For the 2011 Teen Choice Awards
, Fast Five received five nominations, including Choice Action Movie and Choice Action Movie Actress. Three of the five available nomination slots for Choice Action Movie Actor were taken by actors from Fast Five: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Paul Walker. The film ultimately received one Teen Choice Award, for Choice Action Movie.
purchased the rights to the United States network premiere of Fast Five. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, and in the United States on October 4, 2011, in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 sound. A triple pack was also released containing a Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy of the film in either Blu-ray or DVD packaging. The Blu-ray versions contains several exclusive additional features, including behind-the-scenes footage, cast and crew interviews, a "virtual car garage" that provides further details on the vehicles used in the production, and music tracks from the film. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray contain a theatrical and extended cut of the film, director commentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel and features on the three central characters. Commenting on the extended cut, Lin said "this is the version that I prefer."
To promote the release of the DVD and Blu-ray, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
sponsored the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, at the Chicagoland Speedway
. The event, renamed as the "Fast Five 225", took place on September 16, 2011, with Gibson and Brewster as Grand Marshal
s; Gibson sang the American national anthem for the event and Brewster acted as honorary starter. The event served as the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and was won by Austin Dillon
. The deal marked the first time that a film promotion had been allowed to take over a NASCAR race as a title sponsor. Continuing the partnership with Car Town, the game was used as the exclusive means of pre-ordering the Blu-ray/DVD combo release at Walmart, via players clicking on a Walmart-themed truck, which in turn provided the player with Fast Five branded in-game rewards.
. It features many reggaeton
and rhythmic latin tracks, including songs by Don Omar
, Busta Rhymes
and others, and three pieces from Tyler's original score for the film: "Assembling the Team", "Mad Skills" and "Fast Five Suite". Music guide AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars out of 5, commenting that "The goal here is to accompany a picture that, as usual, is packed with driving sequences involving flashy cars, beautiful, scantily clad women, and muscled men. That goal is accomplished with this beat-heavy music and the gruff, aggressive Latin rapping." Ludacris collaborated with Slaughterhouse and Claret Jai for the soundtrack's lead single, "Furiously Dangerous".
The film score was released on May 3, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande
. The release has 25 tracks and plays for 78 minutes. The score spent four weeks on the Billboard 200
, peaking as high as number 60 and reaching number 24 on the digital albums chart and number 5 on the soundtrack-only chart.
In April 2011 it was confirmed that Chris Morgan had already begun work on a script for a potential sixth film at the behest of Universal Studios. It was also confirmed that Universal intended to transform the series from street-racing action into a series of heist films with car chases in the vein of The Italian Job
(1969) and The French Connection
(1971), with Fast Five as the transitional movie. Universal chairman Adam Fogelson said:
Fogelson said that the racing aspect had put a "ceiling" on the number of people willing to see films in the series, and that, by turning it into a series where car driving ability is just one aspect of the film, he hoped to increase the series' audience. On Johnson's character, Fogelson added "[Johnson] also wants to appear in and be integral to the action in Fast Six."
On June 24, 2011, Universal Pictures announced that the anticipated sequel is scheduled for release on May 24, 2013. Moritz and Diesel are to return as producers and Lin returns to direct. In an interview with Box Office
, Lin revealed that he had, after discussions with Diesel, storyboarded, pre-vised and cut a twelve-minute finale for Fast Six before filming was completed on Fast Five. Lin said he shot the footage as he was unsure at the time if there would be a sequel or if he would be able to direct it, but he wanted to have input on how any sequel would end. On October 21, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that Universal was considering filming two sequels — Fast Six and Fast Seven — back to back
with a single story running through both films; both written by Morgan and directed by Lin.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
written by Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan (writer)
Chris Morgan is an American screenwriter. His writing credits include the screenplays for The Fast and the Furious 3, 4 & 5 and Wanted.-Filmography:*Lloyd *Dialing Up 'Cellular...
and directed by Justin Lin
Justin Lin
Justin Lin is a Taiwanese American film director, best known for his work on Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious franchise and the television show, Community.-Life and career:...
. It is the fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious
The Fast and the Furious (film series)
The Fast and the Furious is a series of action films that focuses on street racing and heists. Produced by Universal Studios, the series was established in 2001 with the eponymous first installment, which has since been followed by four sequels, and two short films that tie into the series...
film series. It was released first in Australia on April 20, 2011, and then in the United States on April 29, 2011. Fast Five follows Dominic Toretto
Dominic Toretto
Dominic Toretto is a fictional character portrayed by Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious film series created by screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson. Dom is first introduced in the film The Fast and the Furious...
(Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster is an American actress. She began her acting career in her late teens, with a 1995 one-episode role in the soap opera All My Children. She followed that appearance with the recurring role as Nikki Munson in As the World Turns, for which Brewster was nominated for Outstanding Teen...
) as they plan a heist to steal $100 million from corrupt businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...
) while being pursued for arrest by U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)
Diplomatic Security Service
The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service is the federal law enforcement arm of the United States Department of State. The majority of its Special Agents are members of the Foreign Service and federal law enforcement agents at the same time, making them unique...
agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson).
When developing Fast Five, Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
deliberately departed from the street racing
Street racing
Street racing is a form of unsanctioned and illegal motor racing which takes place on public roads. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated. Well coordinated races are planned in advance and often have people communicating via 2-way radio/citizens' band radio and...
theme prevalent in previous films in the series, to transform the franchise into a heist action series involving cars. By doing so, they hoped to attract wider audiences that might otherwise be put off by a heavy emphasis on cars and car culture. Fast Five is considered the transitional film in the series, featuring only one car race and giving more attention to action set pieces such as gun fights, brawls and the heist of $100 million. The production mounted a comprehensive marketing campaign, marketing the film through social media, virtual games, cinema chains, automobile manufacturers and at NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
races.
Fast Five achieved financial success, breaking box office records for the highest-grossing April opening weekend and the second highest spring opening weekend. It surpassed Fast & Furious (2009) to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise and overtook Rio
Rio (film)
Rio, often promoted as Rio: The Movie, is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in which the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne...
to become the highest-grossing film of 2011, holding this title for fifteen days before being replaced by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series...
. Fast Five has grossed over $625 million worldwide, making it number 55 on the all-time worldwide list of highest-grossing films, in unadjusted dollars.
The film was praised by critics, who liked the combination of comedy and "action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics"; some labeled the film the best of the series. Johnson was singled out for his performance, critics calling him "the best thing, by far, in Fast Five" and remarking that scenes shared by Johnson and Diesel were often the "best moments". Despite the positive response, many were critical of the film's running time, considering it too long, and others criticized the treatment of women, stating "[Females] cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names." South American reviewers were critical of the film's portrayal of Rio de Janeiro as a haven for drug trafficking and corruption, labeling it a "stereotype".
Plot
When Dominic "Dom" TorettoDominic Toretto
Dominic Toretto is a fictional character portrayed by Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious film series created by screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson. Dom is first introduced in the film The Fast and the Furious...
(Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
) is being transported to Lompoc prison
Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc
The Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex is a complex with four United States federal prisons located near Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California...
by bus, his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster is an American actress. She began her acting career in her late teens, with a 1995 one-episode role in the soap opera All My Children. She followed that appearance with the recurring role as Nikki Munson in As the World Turns, for which Brewster was nominated for Outstanding Teen...
) and friend Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker
Paul Walker
Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
) lead an assault on the bus, causing it to crash and freeing Dom. While the authorities search for them, the trio escape to Rio de Janeiro. Awaiting Dom's arrival, Mia and Brian join their friend Vince (Matt Schulze
Matt Schulze
Matthew Steven "Matt" Schulze is an American actor and musician.-Early life:Schulze was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 16, he moved to Atlanta, where he studied guitar at the Atlanta Institute of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to be a studio musician, but ended up doing...
) and other participants on a job to steal three cars from a train. Brian and Mia discover that agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) are also on the train and that the cars are seized property. When Dom arrives with the rest of the participants, he realizes that one of them, Zizi (Michael Irby
Michael Irby
Michael Clinton Irby is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying Sergeant First Class Charles Grey in The Unit.-Personal life:...
), is only interested in stealing one car, a Ford GT40
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 was a high performance sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969...
. Dom has Mia steal the car herself while he and Brian fight Zizi and his henchmen, during which Zizi kills the DEA agents assigned to the vehicles. Dom and Brian are captured and brought to crime lord Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...
), the owner of the cars and Zizi's boss. Reyes orders the pair be interrogated to discover the location of the car, but they manage to escape and retreat to their safehouse.
While Brian, Dom, and Mia examine the car to discover its importance, Vince arrives and is caught trying to remove a computer chip from it. He admits he was planning to sell the chip to Reyes on his own, and Dom forces him to leave. Brian investigates the chip and discovers it contains details of Reyes' criminal empire, including the locations of US$100 million in cash.
Following the murder of the DEA agents aboard the train, blamed on Dom and his team, DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team arrive in Rio to arrest Dom and Brian. With the help of local officer Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky
Elsa Pataky
Elsa Lafuente Pataky is a Spanish actress.-Personal life:Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Hungarian and Romanian ancestry. Pataky attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU and studied...
), they travel to Dom's safehouse, but find it under assault by Reyes' men. Brian, Dom and Mia escape, and Dom suggests they split up and leave Rio, but Mia announces she is pregnant with Brian's child. Dom agrees to stick together and suggests they steal Reyes' money to start a new life. The trio organizes a team to perform the heist, recruiting Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang
Sung Kang
Sung Kang is an American actor, known for his role as Han Seoul-Oh in the films Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, and Fast Five....
), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej Parker (Ludacris
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
), Gisele Yashar (Gal Gadot
Gal Gadot
Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. She won the Miss Israel title in 2004 and went on to represent Israel at the 2004 Miss Universe beauty pageant...
), Tego Leo (Tego Calderón
Tego Calderón
Tegui Calderón Rosario is a Puerto Rican rapper and actor.-Early life:Calderón was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, the son of Pilar Rosario Parrilla, a schoolteacher, and Esteban Calderón Ilarraza, a government worker for Puerto Rico's Department of Health. Moving at a young age from his native...
) and Rico Santos (Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
). Vince later joins the team after saving Mia from being captured by Reyes' men, earning Dom's trust once more.
Hobbs and his team eventually find and arrest Dom, Mia, Brian and Vince. While transporting them to the airport for extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to the United States, the convoy is attacked by Reyes' men, who kill Hobbs' team. Hobbs and Elena are saved by Dom, Brian, Mia and Vince as they fight back against Reyes' men and escape, but Vince is shot in the process and dies. Wanting to avenge his murdered team, Hobbs and Elena agree to help with the heist. The gang breaks into the police station where Reyes' money is kept and tear the vault from the building using their cars, dragging it through the city with police in pursuit. Believing they cannot outrun the police, Dom makes Brian continue without him while he attacks the police and the pursuing Reyes, using the vault attached to his car to smash their vehicles. Brian returns to kill Zizi, while Reyes is badly injured by Dom's assault. Hobbs arrives on the scene and kills Reyes. Hobbs refuses to let Dom and Brian go free but, unwilling to arrest them, agrees to give them a 24-hour head start to escape. The gang splits Reyes' money, leaving Vince's share to his family, before the members go their separate ways.
On a tropical beach, Brian and a visibly pregnant Mia relax. They are met by Dom and Elena. Brian challenges Dom to a final, no-stakes race to prove who is the better driver.
In a post-credits scene
Post-credits scene
A post-credits scene is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run...
, Hobbs is given a file by Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
) concerning the hijack of a military convoy in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In the file, Hobbs discovers a recent photo of Dom's former girlfriend Letty Ortiz, who had been presumed dead.
Cast
- Vin DieselVin DieselVin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
as Dominic TorettoDominic TorettoDominic Toretto is a fictional character portrayed by Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious film series created by screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson. Dom is first introduced in the film The Fast and the Furious...
- A professional criminal, street racer and fugitive. Diesel was reportedly paid $15 million to star in and produce the film.
- Paul WalkerPaul WalkerPaul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below...
as Brian O'Conner
- Paul Walker
- A former FBI agent turned criminal. He is in a relationship with Mia Toretto. Walker did many of his own stunts for the film, training with parkourParkourParkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
professional Paul Darnell to improve his movement.- Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs
- A Diplomatic Security Service agent. According to producer Vin Diesel, the role of Hobbs was originally developed with Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
in mind. However, when reading feedback on his FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, Diesel noted a fan stating a desire to see Diesel and Johnson in a film together. Diesel and Lin then redesigned the role for Johnson. Johnson wanted to work with Universal Studios, citing their support for him during his transition from wrestling to acting. He described the role as a former bounty hunter turned US Marshal and as "the government’s version of the best bounty hunter on the planet". He undertook an extensive daily workout regime to enlarge his physique, wanting his character to appear as a "hunter" and to be formidable enough to present a credible threat to the protagonists.- Jordana BrewsterJordana BrewsterJordana Brewster is an American actress. She began her acting career in her late teens, with a 1995 one-episode role in the soap opera All My Children. She followed that appearance with the recurring role as Nikki Munson in As the World Turns, for which Brewster was nominated for Outstanding Teen...
as Mia Toretto
- Jordana Brewster
- Dominic's sister and the girlfriend of Brian O'Conner.
- Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce
- Brian's childhood friend. Gibson's involvement was confirmed on June 30, 2010, reprising his role from 2 Fast 2 Furious2 Fast 2 Furious2 Fast 2 Furious is a 2003 street racing action film directed by John Singleton. It is the second film in The Fast and the Furious film series following The Fast and the Furious . It stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Devon Aoki, and Chris Bridges; and was directed by John Singleton. The...
. Gibson was committed to Transformers: Dark of the Moon at the time he signed on to Fast Five. He was forced to fly between Puerto Rico and Atlanta to accommodate both films.- Chris "Ludacris" BridgesLudacrisChristopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
as Tej Parker
- Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
- Brian's and Roman's friend from Miami. Ludacris confirmed his involvement in the film on July 12, 2010, when he stated he had arrived in Puerto Rico to begin filming.
- Matt SchulzeMatt SchulzeMatthew Steven "Matt" Schulze is an American actor and musician.-Early life:Schulze was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. At age 16, he moved to Atlanta, where he studied guitar at the Atlanta Institute of Music. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to be a studio musician, but ended up doing...
as Vince
- Matt Schulze
- Dominic's childhood friend. Schulze had appeared in the first film, and it was confirmed on July 16, 2010, that he would be returning.
- Sung KangSung KangSung Kang is an American actor, known for his role as Han Seoul-Oh in the films Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, and Fast Five....
as Han Seoul-Oh
- Sung Kang
- A street racer and Dominic's business partner in the Dominican Republic.
- Gal GadotGal GadotGal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. She won the Miss Israel title in 2004 and went on to represent Israel at the 2004 Miss Universe beauty pageant...
as Gisele Yashar
- Gal Gadot
- A former MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
agent and love interest of Han. Although Gadot had prior experience handling motorbikes, she was required to learn how to ride the larger, more powerful Ducati StreetfighterDucati StreetfighterThe Ducati Streetfighter is a streetfighter-style motorcycle produced by Ducati Motor Holding.The design of Streetfighter is the work of designer Damien Basset from the Ducati design team....
for the film.- Joaquim de AlmeidaJoaquim de AlmeidaJoaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...
as Hernan Reyes
- Joaquim de Almeida
- A ruthless drug lord posing as a legitimate business man. It was confirmed on July 16, 2010, that Almeida would play antagonist Hernan Reyes. Having previously played several antagonists, he hesitated to take this role, but accepted it after speaking with Lin and hearing his take on the character.
- Elsa PatakyElsa PatakyElsa Lafuente Pataky is a Spanish actress.-Personal life:Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of José Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Hungarian and Romanian ancestry. Pataky attended the Universidad de San Pablo CEU and studied...
as Elena Neves
- Elsa Pataky
- A Rio police officer who works with Hobbs' team and becomes Dominic's love interest. It was confirmed on July 16, 2010, that Pataky would take this role. She underwent several days of tactical training with a police/military technical advisor and was required to learn how to handle her gun in a variety of situations to portray Elena believably.
The central cast is rounded out by Puerto Rican singers Tego Calderón
Tego Calderón
Tegui Calderón Rosario is a Puerto Rican rapper and actor.-Early life:Calderón was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, the son of Pilar Rosario Parrilla, a schoolteacher, and Esteban Calderón Ilarraza, a government worker for Puerto Rico's Department of Health. Moving at a young age from his native...
and Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
as Leo and Santos respectively, members of the heist team. Michael Irby
Michael Irby
Michael Clinton Irby is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying Sergeant First Class Charles Grey in The Unit.-Personal life:...
plays Reyes' right-hand man Zizi. Alimi Ballard
Alimi Ballard
Alimi Ballard is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as FBI agent David Sinclair on the CBS drama television series Numb3rs....
, Fernando Chien, Yorgo Constantine and Geoff Meedy portray Hobbs' team members Fusco, Wilkes, Chato and Macroy. Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
appears in photographs as Letty Ortiz, Dominic's former girlfriend, who is presumed dead following the events of Fast & Furious. Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
appears in an uncredited cameo as agent Monica Fuentes, reprising her role from 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Development
By February 3, 2010, it was confirmed that a fifth film, referred to as Fast Five, was going into production in the Fast and Furious series, and that Diesel, Walker, writer Chris MorganChris Morgan (writer)
Chris Morgan is an American screenwriter. His writing credits include the screenplays for The Fast and the Furious 3, 4 & 5 and Wanted.-Filmography:*Lloyd *Dialing Up 'Cellular...
and producer Neal H. Moritz
Neal H. Moritz
Neal H. Moritz is an American film producer. He is the founder of Original Film.-Life and career:He has over 70 films to his credit...
would all return to their roles for the new installment. Moritz confirmed that, following the success of Fast & Furious (2009), which had reunited Diesel, Brewster, Walker and Rodriguez from the original film, the production wanted to bring them back again for the next one. Diesel felt that the story between the characters portrayed by himself and Walker should continue, envisioning it as three chapters, of which Fast Five would be the last. Diesel also wanted to bring back a variety of characters that had been in previous films without interacting, put them together and "have a lot of fun".
The production had originally intended to film on location in Rio de Janeiro. However, the Puerto Rican government offered tax incentives, influencing the decision to film there, using Puerto Rico to represent Rio de Janeiro.
Writing
Lin wanted to explore the elements of "freedom and family" in the film and collaborated with Morgan towards that ideal, both having worked together on previous installments of the franchise. Morgan worked with Diesel to produce a story arc that would further explore and develop Diesel's character. An idea involving heisting a large safe had been conceived by Morgan during the production of Fast & Furious, but that film's premise did not work with how Morgan envisioned it. He later incorporated it into Fast Five.Filming
On a budget of $125 million,, the shooting of Fast Five was scheduled for July and August 2010. Shooting had started by July 14, 2010, but it took longer than forecast: the film was still being shot in early November 2010.Three film units worked simultaneously. The main cast were required to travel to Rio at the behest of Lin, who felt it important to understand the area and its culture to give the film a good sense of place. Diesel agreed that it was important to shoot key scenes in Brazil, commenting "we were able to shoot where other productions might not be able to shoot because our franchise has such good street cred."
The Rio film unit captured aerial shots of the city including Sugarloaf Mountain, Fort Copacabana
Fort Copacabana
Fort Copacabana is a military base at the south end of the beach that defines the district of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro...
, Ipanema Beach, the Dona Marta lookout point
Dona Marta
Dona Marta or "Favela Santa Marta" is a slum located in Botafogo in the South Zone Rio de Janeiro of Brazil. It has about 8000 residents, with 500 wooden houses, 2000 brick houses, 4 kindergartens, 3 bakeries, 2 sports fields, 1 block of a samba school, 3 military units and 1 smallmarket...
and the Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer (statue)
Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is tall, including its pedestal, and wide. It weighs 635 tonnes , and is located at the peak of the Corcovado...
statue. Establishing shot
Establishing shot
An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects...
s of the heist team members were taken as each arrived in Rio. Gibson was filmed arriving in character at Galeão International Airport but, when it became publicly known that a scene was being shot at the airport, the cast and crew were mobbed. A similar situation occurred while Ludacris was shooting a scene in which his character buys a car to drive around the city. A scene where the completed heist team walk down a beach was filmed in Copacabana.
The rooftop chase across favela
Favela
A favela is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. In the late 18th century, the first settlements were called bairros africanos . This was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many freed black slaves moved in...
s was filmed in Puerto Rico, where the production could have more control over the area. The main and second filming units began filming in and around the capital, San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. The island's mixture of tropical greenery and wide streets allowed the production to re-create the densely populated favelas of Rio while completing the larger action and external scenes without incident. Production designer Peter Wenham had the task of transforming Puerto Rico and Atlanta into the previously scouted Rio locations in four weeks, as the production deemed Rio unsuitable for filming many of the larger scenes. Wenham had to reinforce buildings to support the heavy camera equipment, and to alter the colors of more than 30 buildings in the city to make them suitable for filming. His team needed to alter the buildings and strew debris to make the area look disheveled and appear as a Rio shantytown. Wenham remarked that, though the development was difficult, in part due to the heat, it was "a walk in the park" compared with filming in the Rio favelas themselves. Wenham aimed to maintain a monochromatic color scheme for the film, with muted blacks and grays, including his choice of colors for the cars used. He only chose to add a multitude of colors in the favela set.
A foot pursuit in which Diesel, Brewster and Walker are chased across favela rooftops by Johnson and his team was filmed over the course of a week in the small hillside town of Naranjito, Puerto Rico
Naranjito, Puerto Rico
Naranjito is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region of the island, south of Toa Alta; north of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Naranjito is spread over 15 wards and Naranjito Pueblo...
. The scene was considered difficult to shoot, as pathways were slippery from moist tropical heat and the scene involved actors and stunt doubles running while avoiding dogs, chickens and other stray animals loose in the area. To capture the scene, a 420-foot cable-camera rig was used to allow for a fast moving, birds-eye view of the action, and cameras on cranes were set up on rooftops and in alleyways. The train heist scene was filmed in Rice, California
Rice, California
Rice, California is a vacant town site in the southern tip of the Mojave Desert in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, United States.-History:...
over three weeks.
Filming moved to Atlanta, Georgia for the final phase. Wenham and his team transformed a defunct train yard into an abandoned auto plant used by the protagonists as their headquarters. Redesigning the train yard took place over several months. It was required to allow enough space for stunt drivers to drive into the building, and it had to include an integrated lighting system. The design team removed walls, hauled out old railway cars, suspended rusted car parts and auto-plant car rails, and constructed smaller buildings within the main building to transform the site. With twenty-five pages of script to shoot in a limited time, cinematographer Stephen Windon and his team spent three weeks setting up a series of high-powered, motorized lights in the rafters of the building, that could be controlled remotely to allow lighting to be altered quickly while fully illuminating the set. An exterior scene involving Diesel and Walker attending a car party, involving several high-performance cars, was filmed near the Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
.
A brawl scene between Johnson's and Diesel's characters was considered difficult to choreograph. The characters were written to be equally formidable, so the fight was punctuated with moments of character development, as Moritz felt this made the fight more exciting. The scene required several weeks of rehearsal and more than a week of filming by the actors and their stunt doubles, who incurred several minor injuries.
Marketing
The first trailer for Fast Five was released on Diesel's Facebook page on December 14, 2010, in what was believed to be the first ever use of this marketing approach. At the time, Diesel's page had over 20 million subscribers (one of the top five personal sites of celebrities), providing a wide audience for the trailer. Following this debut, other members of the cast with personal social media platforms released the teaser trailer to their own fans.The Facebook game Car Town
Car Town
Car Town is a social network game developed by , a same developer which creates Nitto 1320 Legends. This game lets users collect and modify virtual cars. The object of the game is to win races and to build a collection of cars, while the focus of the game is more on collecting them. It currently...
by Cie Games and the theater chain Regal Entertainment Group
Regal Entertainment Group
Regal Entertainment Group also known as REG is a movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Regal operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,775 screens in 548 locations in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of...
(REG) collaborated with Universal in a cross-media marketing promotion. Car Town allowed players to view the trailer for the film in an , in-game drive-in theater and race around a virtual Rio de Janeiro. The game also featured missions and locations based on the plot of the film, while allowing players to race against Fast Five characters and take part in a bank heist. REG offered players of Car Town the ability to purchase tickets in-game via Fandango
Fandango
Fandango is a lively couple's dance, usually in triple metre, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping . Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has an instrumental introduction followed by "variaciones"...
for films at REG theaters. By buying these tickets in-game, players were given promotional codes which in turn allowed them to unlock a virtual 1970s Dodge Charger
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is an American automobile manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. There have been several different Dodge vehicles, built on three different platforms and sizes, all bearing the Charger nameplate...
, used by Diesel's character in the original film. REG promoted the partnership between the film and the game in their theaters across 37 states, online and through social media, while Universal promoted it via their own Facebook, Twitter and YouTube sites. In October 2011, it was claimed that over 200 million races had taken place within the virtual Rio de Janeiro environment in the six months since the campaign's April launch.
Automobile manufacturer Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
collaborated with Universal in marketing the film, supplying several Dodge Chargers to use in it. The partnership with Dodge included the "Fast Five" Dodge Charger driven by Robby Gordon
Robby Gordon
Robert W. "Robby" Gordon is an American racecar driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as an owner-driver, driving the No. 7 Speed Energy Dodge Charger for Robby Gordon Motorsports, and also competes part-time in the Nationwide Series...
in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series throughout April 2011 – the opening month of Fast Five. Dodge also sponsored the world premiere of the film in Rio de Janeiro.
Release
The premiere of Fast Five took place on April 15, 2011, at the CinépolisCinépolis
Cinépolis is a Mexican chain of movie theaters. Its name means City of Cinéma and its slogan is La Capital del Cine .Cinépolis is the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico with 205 theaters in 65 cities,...
Lagoon theater in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was hosted by actress Susie Castillo
Susie Castillo
Susie Castillo is a former beauty queen who held the Miss USA title and competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants...
and sponsored by automobile manufacturer Dodge.
Box office
Fast Five accrued $209,837,675 (33.5%) in the United States and Canada and a further $416,300,000 (66.5%) elsewhere – a total of $626,137,675, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 20112011 in film
The year 2011 is notable for containing the release of the most film sequels in a single year, at 27 sequels. The following tables list films that are in production or have completed production and will be released in the United States and Canada at some point in 2011.- Highest-grossing films :...
worldwide. This amount makes Fast Five the number 103 highest-grossing film of all time in the domestic market and the number 55 highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, in unadjusted dollars.
On May 14, 2011, after twenty-five days in theaters, Fast Five overtook Fast & Furious to become the highest-grossing film in the Fast and the Furious franchise, with a gross of $369,744,415, and the highest grossing installment of the franchise outside the US and Canada, with $214,619,415 – both figures taking account of inflation. On May 15, 2011, with a gross of $168,780,000, Fast Five passed Fast & Furious ($155M) in the US and Canada to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise domestically – again taking inflation into account – earning in sixteen days what it had taken Fast & Furious ninety-one days to achieve. On the same day, with a worldwide gross of $440,480,000, Fast Five surpassed Rio
Rio (film)
Rio, often promoted as Rio: The Movie, is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. The title refers to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, in which the film is set. The film features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne...
($428.6M) to become the highest grossing film of 2011. It held this record for 15 days before being supplanted on May 30, 2011, its (then) $530.4M gross surpassed by the $623.7M of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series...
. On May 18, 2011, with a total gross of $465,717,712, it also entered the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time worldwide – in unadjusted dollars – at number 97. In October 2011, with a gross of $626.1M, it reached a peak of number 55 on the same list before leaving theaters.
Markets outside the United States and Canada
Fast Five was initially released in Australia on Wednesday April 20, 2011 – nine days before the first release in North America – followed by further releases in the UK, South Korea and New Zealand. The earlier start in these countries was timed to coincide with their Easter holidays and avoided competition from forthcoming summer films, although this placed it in direct competition with the superhero film
Superhero film
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is: action, fantasy and science fiction film; that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and are dedicated to protecting the public...
Thor
Thor (film)
Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
. On the opening day, Fast Five took $2.1M in the UK, $570,000 from South Korea and $260,000 from New Zealand. By the end of the opening weekend, the film had accrued a total of $24M from foreign countries, including $10.3M from Australia (Universal's biggest opening in that country), $8.8M from the UK, $3.4M from South Korea and $870,000 from New Zealand. On its second weekend in foreign countries, Fast Five earned an estimated $45.3M across 3,139 theaters in 14 countries, ranking first at the box office in each of its ten new overseas markets and breaking records for Universal's highest-grossing openings in Russia ($11.5M), Spain and Turkey. Its international gross takings, however, put it in second place behind Thor, which had opened in more countries than Fast Five.
In the third week after release Fast Five opened at number 1 in a further 44 countries, bringing the total to 58 – 6,979 theaters altogether. With both films open in a similar number of countries (58 for Fast Five to 57 for Thor) – Fast Five regained the number one position, with a total gross of $184.5M against Thors $176.1M, which fell to second place. The week saw the film break opening-weekend records for Universal in 12 countries: Argentina, Brazil ($5M), Chile, France ($8.8M), India, Italy ($7.4M), Malaysia, Mexico ($8.6M), the Netherlands, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. It broke the record for the biggest ever opening gross in the United Arab Emirates ($2.6M), holding this record for two weeks before being replaced by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($2.7M). On May 31, 2011, Fast Five, with a cumulative gross of $350M, was replaced as the highest-grossing film of 2011 internationally by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($472.3M).
United States and Canada
In the US and Canada Fast Five opened on April 29, 2011, in 3,644 theaters, making it the 96th most widespread release of all time. It took $3.8M in receipts during launch midnight showings, marking the best ever opening for a Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
title and for the Fast and the Furious series. By the end of the opening day it had accrued a total of $34.4M including midnight takings, giving it the highest-grossing April opening of any year, replacing Fast & Furious ($30.1M), and the second highest Friday opening outside of the summer and holiday period, behind Alice in Wonderland ($40.8M). In total, Fast Five earned $86.2M during its opening weekend, an average of $23,655 per theater, with IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
showings contributing over $8 million. This amount made it the highest-grossing opening of the series and the highest-grossing opening weekend for Universal, replacing The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a 1997 science fiction thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson...
($72.1M), the highest-grossing April opening weekend of all time, replacing Fast & Furious ($71M), and the second-highest spring opening, again after Alice in Wonderland ($116.1M). The film was also the highest-grossing opening for Diesel, Walker, Brewster, Johnson, Moritz and Lin.
The film opened in a further eighteen cinemas (making a total of 3,662) during the second week of release (6–8 May), taking more than $32M, or $8,860 per theater. This was a 62.4% drop from the previous week's takings, a result partially blamed on a reduction in IMAX and large-format screens showing the film (reduced from 244 to 20), which only contributed $510,000 to the second weekend's gross. This moved the film into second place in theaters behind the newly released Thor with $66M. Despite the competition from Thor, Fast Five earned a further $20M for the week, bringing the gross for the US and Canada to over $135M. On May 7, 2011, Fast Five ($139.8M) surpassed Rio ($116.5M) to become the highest-grossing film of 2011 in the United States, holding the record for thirty-six days until June 11, 2011, when it was surpassed by The Hangover Part II ($203.8M). On June 4, 2011, thirty-seven days after release in the US, the film became the first film of 2011 to accrue more than $200M.
On June 15, 2011, Box Office Mojo compared the box office performances of ten sequel films released in 2011 with those of the original films of their franchises. Fast Five was at the head of the list, being the only sequel to have outperformed its franchise original; it was the highest-grossing film of the Fast and the Furious franchise (and the one with the highest estimated attendance since the 2001 series original). Fast Five was followed by The Hangover Part II and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on this basis.
Fast Five closed on August 11, 2011, after 105 days (15 weeks), having accrued $209,837,675 across 3,793 theaters, making it the second highest-grossing heist/caper film, behind Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
($292.5M), and the second highest-grossing car-racing film, behind Cars
Cars (film)
Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...
($244.1M) – not adjusting for inflation.
| Release date(s) | Budget | Box office revenue | Box office ranking (current/peak) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US & Canada | International | Worldwide | Release year | All time US | All time worldwide | |||
| $125,000,000 | $209,837,675 | $416,300,000 | $626,137,675 | #5 / #1 | #103 | #55 | ||
| Note(s)
|
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Critical reception
Fast Five has received positive critical reception since its release, earning a score of 67 out of 100 from 29 critics on review aggregate website MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and garnering 78% approval from 176 critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, whose assessment reads: "Sleek, loud, and over the top, Fast Five proudly embraces its brainless action thrills."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising it as "a skillfully assembled 130 minutes at the movies, with actors capable of doing absurd things with straight faces, and action sequences that toy idly with the laws of physics", while Time Magazine considered it "maybe the first great film of the post-human era". The New York Times said it deftly combined action and humor, stating "The only time you won’t be watching the screen is when your eyes have squeezed shut because you’re laughing so hard." The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
appreciated the presence of Johnson and Diesel together, calling it a "cosmic event", and added that director Lin had revitalized the series, saying "the start and finish here, defying every imaginable law of physics, are series highs." Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
also heaped praise on Johnson, saying "How to re-ignite an ageing franchise? Drop [Johnson] on it. The best thing, by far, in Fast Five ... Dwayne Johnson hulks through the movie leaving testosterone trails in his wake." However, Empire took the view that the film itself was "not, by any normal criteria, a good film", arguing that it was too long, although conceding that the action scenes, in particular the final car chase, made the film "the most entertaining in the series." Anna Smith of Time Out London also commented that the film was too long and criticized the simplistic characters and dialog, but she called the film "slick" and stated that these criticisms could be overlooked because "it doesn’t take itself too seriously." Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
focused on the roles of Johnson and Diesel, lamenting the current lack of 1980s-style "brawny" leading men and of the "manly men" typical of the 1950s and 1960s, and calling their pairing "a welcome injection of tough-guy vigor". Variety commented that, based on Fast Five, a "sixth entry could be something worth waiting for". The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
called the action scenes "spectacular", praising director Lin by saying his "direction and the sharp editing never confuse or lose momentum", but also found the film too long and criticized the dialog, labeling it "subpar Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film)
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
-style banter". On the characters, The New Yorker considered Walker and Diesel "serviceable", but singled out Johnson for praise for bringing a "hip, comic knowingness to his role ... his enjoyment is infectious and keeps the movie speeding along."
Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
welcomed the return of Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson to "[inject] the film with much-needed laughs" and felt that Johnson fit into the established cast with ease, though it believed the film itself was "no mould-breaker." Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, who disliked the previous movies, gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, praising the transformation of the series into a heist film ("Damn it, it works"), commenting favorably on scenes between Johnson and Diesel, and judging that "Fast Five will push all your action buttons, and some you haven't thought of." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
felt that scenes shared by Diesel and Johnson were the "best moments" and appreciated the humor, but considered the pacing a "strange mix", switching between exposition, comedy scenes and then sudden action. The reviewer echoed other critics' sentiments concerning the running time of the film, but concluded that "the sheer audacity of "Fast Five" is kind of breathtaking in a metal-twisting, death-defying, mission-implausible, B-movie-on-steroids kind of way", labeling it the "best" of the series.
Both Empire and Variety noted that the final chase scene of Fast Five contained allusions to Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II is a 2003 action/comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. It is a sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys. The film is about two police detectives investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami...
(2003): Variety stated that the scene "seems inspired in part by a similarly spectacular scene in Bad Boys II"; Empire said that it "nearly out-Bad-Boys-2s Bad Boys 2".
Not all reviews were positive, however. Film4
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...
criticized both the film's long running time and its treatment of female characters, remarking "[Females] cameo strikingly in buttock form. Others actually have first names". But Film4 praised Johnson's role as DSS agent Luke Hobbs, saying he "provides a more credible anti-antagonist to our anti-heroes than the straight up villains can manage". The Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
gave a more mixed reaction: it derided the lack of realism as removing any sense of threat to the protagonists, but conceded that "these films may be robustly anti-intellectual and deplorably commercialized, but they are the envy of the rest of the world." Despite giving the film a positive review and praising the action, The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
was critical of its stars, saying "it’s clear the budget wasn’t used on acting lessons for the cast." The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
s Kyle Smith gave the film a negative review, criticizing the shortage of car-related action before the finale and calling it less a "vroomer" and more a "knucklehead Ocean's Eleven". Smith went on to call the film's villain Reyes (Almeida) "unforgivably dull" and considered the long running time a result of taking "that long to read every item in the cliché dictionary." Time Out New York stated that "The Fast and the Furious movies haven’t exactly gotten better as they’ve gone along" but gave the director a backhanded compliment, saying "Justin Lin, taking his third turn behind the franchise’s wheel, is at least a competent hack." Ebert was more complimentary, saying "Justin Lin is emerging as a first-rate director in this second-rate genre" and Rolling Stone managed "Justin Lin, who misdirected the last two sequels, finds his pace this time, staging dynamite action."
Brazilian critics
South American reviewers criticized the use of Rio de Janeiro in the film, claiming it was stereotyped as "dominated by heavily armed drug traffickers, corrupt police and sexy women". GloboOrganizações Globo
Organizações Globo is the largest media conglomerate of South America, founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1925 by Irineu Marinho. It also owns companies on the food industry and the real estate and financial markets....
accused the producers of using "aerial shots and quick editing" to "deceive the viewer" into believing that the criminal acts take place in Rio. Globo also reacted negatively to the use of "foreigners" to represent Brazilians, "speaking Portuguese with laughable accents". Veja
Veja (magazine)
Veja is a Brazilian weekly newsmagazine published in São Paulo and distributed throughout the country by the media conglomerate Grupo Abril. It is the leading weekly publication in the country, and one of the most influential outlets of the Brazilian press...
agreed with Globo, saying "The city of Rio and the Rio Film Commission supported the production. But the image that will spread across the world is exactly what the city doesn't want."
Accolades
Tyler's score for Fast Five earned him an award at the 2011 BMI Film Music Awards. The marketing components of Fast Five were nominated for three Golden Trailer AwardsGolden Trailer Awards
The Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :...
, winning one for Best Summer Blockbuster 2011 TV Spot. For the 2011 Teen Choice Awards
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
, Fast Five received five nominations, including Choice Action Movie and Choice Action Movie Actress. Three of the five available nomination slots for Choice Action Movie Actor were taken by actors from Fast Five: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Paul Walker. The film ultimately received one Teen Choice Award, for Choice Action Movie.
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | BMI Film Music Award | Film Music | Brian Tyler Brian Tyler (composer) Brian Tyler is an American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer most known for his scores of Eagle Eye, The Expendables, Battle: Los Angeles, The Final Destination, Rambo, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Final Destination 5. Tyler is a symphonic conductor and conducts his own scores.... |
||
| Golden Trailer Awards Golden Trailer Awards The Golden Trailer Awards is an annual awards show that honors achievements in motion picture marketing, including film trailers, posters and television advertisements.- Overview :... |
Best Action TV Spot | "Fast Women" - Universal Pictures, AV Squad | |||
| Best Summer 2011 Blockbuster Poster | "Fast Five" - Universal Pictures, Cold Open | ||||
| Best Summer Blockbuster 2011 TV Spot | "Superbowl" - Universal Pictures, AV Squad | ||||
| Teen Choice Awards 2011 Teen Choice Awards The 2011 Teen Choice Awards hosted by Kaley Cuoco aired live on August 7, 2011 at 8/7c on Fox. This was the first time that the ceremonies were aired live since the 2007 show... |
Choice Movie - Action | Fast Five | |||
| Choice Movie Actor - Action | Vin Diesel Vin Diesel Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx... |
||||
| Dwayne Johnson | |||||
| Paul Walker Paul Walker Paul William Walker IV is an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. He is also known for starring in the surprise summer hit The Fast and the Furious. His other films include Joy Ride, Running Scared, Into the Blue and Eight Below... |
|||||
| Choice Movie Actress - Action | Jordana Brewster Jordana Brewster Jordana Brewster is an American actress. She began her acting career in her late teens, with a 1995 one-episode role in the soap opera All My Children. She followed that appearance with the recurring role as Nikki Munson in As the World Turns, for which Brewster was nominated for Outstanding Teen... |
||||
| 2012 | People's Choice Awards 38th People's Choice Awards The 38th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2011, will be held on January 11, 2012 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and were broadcast live on CBS at 9:00 pm ET.On November 8, the nominees were announced... |
Favorite Action Movie | Fast Five | ||
| Favorite Action Movie Star | Vin Diesel | ||||
Home media
On August 2, 2011, USA NetworkUSA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
purchased the rights to the United States network premiere of Fast Five. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, and in the United States on October 4, 2011, in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 sound. A triple pack was also released containing a Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy of the film in either Blu-ray or DVD packaging. The Blu-ray versions contains several exclusive additional features, including behind-the-scenes footage, cast and crew interviews, a "virtual car garage" that provides further details on the vehicles used in the production, and music tracks from the film. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray contain a theatrical and extended cut of the film, director commentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel and features on the three central characters. Commenting on the extended cut, Lin said "this is the version that I prefer."
To promote the release of the DVD and Blu-ray, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...
sponsored the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, at the Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, USA, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and currently hosts NASCAR racing including the opening event in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Until 2011, the speedway also hosted the IZOD IndyCar Series, recording...
. The event, renamed as the "Fast Five 225", took place on September 16, 2011, with Gibson and Brewster as Grand Marshal
Grand Marshal
Grand Marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "Marshal" with the first usage of the term "Grand Marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders...
s; Gibson sang the American national anthem for the event and Brewster acted as honorary starter. The event served as the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and was won by Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon is an American stock car racing driver. He is the son of former driver and RCR general manager Mike Dillon and grandson of Richard Childress....
. The deal marked the first time that a film promotion had been allowed to take over a NASCAR race as a title sponsor. Continuing the partnership with Car Town, the game was used as the exclusive means of pre-ordering the Blu-ray/DVD combo release at Walmart, via players clicking on a Walmart-themed truck, which in turn provided the player with Fast Five branded in-game rewards.
Soundtracks
The Fast Five Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on iTunes on April 25, 2011, and on CD on May 3, 2011, by ABKCO RecordsABKCO Records
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. is a major independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Marianne Faithfull, The Kinks as well as the Cameo Parkway label,...
. It features many reggaeton
Reggaeton
Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...
and rhythmic latin tracks, including songs by Don Omar
Don Omar
Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey Don Omar, also known as El Rey (born William Omar Landrón Rivera; February 10, 1978, is a Puerto Rican Reggaetón singer and actor.-Early life:...
, Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...
and others, and three pieces from Tyler's original score for the film: "Assembling the Team", "Mad Skills" and "Fast Five Suite". Music guide AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars out of 5, commenting that "The goal here is to accompany a picture that, as usual, is packed with driving sequences involving flashy cars, beautiful, scantily clad women, and muscled men. That goal is accomplished with this beat-heavy music and the gruff, aggressive Latin rapping." Ludacris collaborated with Slaughterhouse and Claret Jai for the soundtrack's lead single, "Furiously Dangerous".
The film score was released on May 3, 2011, by Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
. The release has 25 tracks and plays for 78 minutes. The score spent four weeks on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, peaking as high as number 60 and reaching number 24 on the digital albums chart and number 5 on the soundtrack-only chart.
Sequel
In February 2010, Diesel confirmed that production of Fast Five was commencing and also announced that a sixth installment was being planned. In January 2011, producer Neal H. Moritz said more:In Vin and my mind we already know what the sixth movie is, we’ve already been talking about it. Vin and I have had numerous conversations about what that might be. And we’re starting to get serious about it right now. We just finished [Fast Five] like 4 or 5 weeks ago and we just needed a break, and now we’re gonna start focusing on that.
In April 2011 it was confirmed that Chris Morgan had already begun work on a script for a potential sixth film at the behest of Universal Studios. It was also confirmed that Universal intended to transform the series from street-racing action into a series of heist films with car chases in the vein of The Italian Job
The Italian Job
The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as an institution in the United Kingdom....
(1969) and The French Connection
The French Connection (film)
This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
(1971), with Fast Five as the transitional movie. Universal chairman Adam Fogelson said:
The question putting Fast Five and Fast Six together for us was: Can we take it out of being a pure car culture movie and into being a true action franchise in the spirit of those great heist films made 10 or 15 years ago?
Fogelson said that the racing aspect had put a "ceiling" on the number of people willing to see films in the series, and that, by turning it into a series where car driving ability is just one aspect of the film, he hoped to increase the series' audience. On Johnson's character, Fogelson added "[Johnson] also wants to appear in and be integral to the action in Fast Six."
On June 24, 2011, Universal Pictures announced that the anticipated sequel is scheduled for release on May 24, 2013. Moritz and Diesel are to return as producers and Lin returns to direct. In an interview with Box Office
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...
, Lin revealed that he had, after discussions with Diesel, storyboarded, pre-vised and cut a twelve-minute finale for Fast Six before filming was completed on Fast Five. Lin said he shot the footage as he was unsure at the time if there would be a sequel or if he would be able to direct it, but he wanted to have input on how any sequel would end. On October 21, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that Universal was considering filming two sequels — Fast Six and Fast Seven — back to back
Back to back film production
Filming sequels "back to back" refers to the practice of filming two or more movies as one production, reducing costs and time.Trilogies are common in the film industry, particularly in the science fiction, fantasy and adventure genres...
with a single story running through both films; both written by Morgan and directed by Lin.